A top Swedish prosecutor on Wednesday reopened an investigation into allegations that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange raped two women, the Associated Press reports.
Assange has denied the allegations against him.
Both women who made the molestation allegations against Assange apparently met him when he was in Stockholm for a seminar on Aug. 14. A police report obtained by the Associated Press shows the women filed their complaints jointly six days later.
While both sexual encounters reportedly began consensually, Assange allegedly did not stop when each woman asked him to do so. In one case, Assange allegedly refused to stop after a condom broke, according to accounts given to Swedish officials and reported by the New York Times. The sexual encounter with the other woman allegedly started with the use of a condom, but she reported that Assange did not listen to her pleas for him to stop when the condom was no longer in use.
An investigation into a lesser charge of molestation has always remained ongoing, but Wednesday’s announcement expanded that investigation to consider charges of sexual coercion and sexual molestation.
Marianne Ny, director of public prosecution, said in a statement that “considering information available at present, my judgment is that the classification of the crime is rape,” reported the Times.
The Wikileaks website publishes anonymous submissions, and most recently received media attention after it posted thousands of documents related to the war in Afganistan. Assange has alleged that the charges against him are politically motivated.
